Expedia unveils European brand identity with new advertising campaign

LONDON, United Kingdom, June 22, 2011: Expedia, the world’s leading online travel agent, is launching today its new European brand advertising campaign. The campaign marks the start of a new era for the brand as it rolls out its Expedia Everywhere strategy. Expedia Everywhere encompasses a series of transformational initiatives to deliver increasingly personalised travel services and redefine Expedia’s role as a trusted travel partner rather than simply a booking engine. Expedia will bring to life this vision through a series of marketing initiatives that will be linked under the theme of People Shaped Travel.

The new advertising, devised by world leading agency Ogilvy & Mather Advertising, is an integrated, multimedia campaign which will span TV, radio, print, online and social media across Europe The first advertisements appeared in the UK on 20th June, and then roll out to Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.

Rather than replicating the industry’s clichéd, one-size-fits-all approach to holiday advertising, Expedia’s focus in the first People Shaped Travel campaign will be on the people behind the brand; highlighting the passion for travel that drives the people who work for Expedia, even including cameo appearances from real life Expedia employees in the TV advertisements.

The aim of this first burst of communications will be to bring to life the diverse range of global travellers who work at Expedia. The ads will show Expedia employees communicating to each other in multiple languages, yet understanding each other perfectly. This reflects both the multi-lingual, multicultural atmosphere at Expedia’s European headquarters in London but also the shared understanding that exists between people who travel. This fact will be dramatised through a series of vignettes, based on insights into travellers, that were identified in consumer co-creation workshops held across Europe earlier in the year. A theme that emerged from this research was that some customers perceived online booking services to be commoditised, powered by faceless computers and therefore lacking the humanity that is intrinsic to understanding the ethos of travel.

While many rivals focus on palm trees and price points, the People Shaped Travel campaign reassures customers that, behind Expedia is a diverse team of experienced travel and technology professionals who are all looking to work with customers to create the best possible tools and solutions to ensure an optimum holiday experience.

Andrew Warner, Senior Marketing Director, EMEA, Expedia, commented: “As a market leader, Expedia needs to be leading the industry in all aspects of the travel business. We’re seeing huge leaps in innovation across all media but travel advertising has stayed relatively still, focusing on palm trees and price points and customers are looking for change.”

“This campaign is the culmination of an extensive pan-European consumer research study, which highlighted that customers are seeking reassurance and a greater level of personal engagement with travel brands.

We believe that co-creation of new services with consumers is key to the future of travel so this campaign aims to reduce the barriers to engaging with Expedia by creating a more personal relationship with the company and the people who will be making your holiday happen.

We want people to see that Expedia can offer relevant and compelling solutions for travellers because we are all passionate travellers ourselves and understand the needs of our community.” added Warner, who continued, “People Shaped Travel is not just a superficial advertising end-line, we are making a major commitment to delivering more customer-centric approach in all aspects of the Expedia business. A key part of this is allowing customers to shape and co-create the kind of travel services they want from us now and in the future.”

The new campaign is the first major piece of work from Ogilvy & Mather for Expedia and was overseen by Executive Creative Director, Gerry Human and CEO of Ogilvy and Mather Advertising, London, Hugh Baillie who added:
“This is an exciting new campaign which will further develop Expedia’s strong heritage and reputation in the travel sector. Our aim is to convey Expedia’s personality, character and values in an increasingly commoditised market.”

Media planning and buying for the campaign has been conducted by PHD. The TV campaign launched on 20th June, but further elements of the campaign will be revealed through social media channels such as Youtube and Facebook throughout the summer offering a more intimate insight into the world of Expedia and the inspirational travel experiences that Expedia will be delivering in the near future.

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